Recap: Goodfood #28

We’re back with last week’s Goodfood meal box. This one has one repeat in it. However, a lot of them looked so promising that we decided to give it a go. Just a note that if you follow this series specifically, we’ve dropped from biweekly to monthly subscriptions of the box. The main reason is that this box was always structured to be a balance for when we were busy with stuff and event coverage season is pretty much done for this year except for one more in November so we are getting back to finding cool recipes to work on. I’ll share some of those here whenever we try something new on our own.

Let’s check out how this Goodfood went!

Fresh Tagliatelle with Chicken & Sundried Tomatoes
Portobello Mushrooms & Baby Spinach

My husband loves to eat pasta. Honestly, I can get pretty picky about it. We have our definite fave recipes. Surprisingly, tagliatelle is never our first choice. My husband isn’t a big fan of the texture. He’s never been one to enjoy the thick noodle variety. As for myself, I actually quite like it but then stick to the more traditional normal stuff. Either way, I chose this recipe because it doesn’t have a cream sauce. Its so rare to find recipes, unless I make it up myself to not have that rose sauce or white creamy sauce. Lactose intolerance definitely doesn’t work with pasta so well so this recipe looked simple and delicious with all its ingredients. It lived pretty much up to its standards. Plus, I multitasked like a beast and even got the chicken perfectly cooked, which is super rare. I’m really not that great of a cook..more a baker at heart. The meal here works really well. Its nice and simple and everything blends so well together and has a decent amount of protein and veggies. Delicious stuff! My husband doesn’t admit it but he ate everything else but the noodles so I think it worked for him also but for us, we’ll probably go with some other type of pasta using the same recipe.

Braised Berbere Chicken
with Green Beans & Tangy Couscous

I’m not sure if you know what Berbere is but we sure didn’t. However, it apparently (if you didn’t already know), is a common Ethiopian spice blend. Its a tad spicy if you look at the spice combination. Matched up with the couscous which this time is made in water rather than just soaking in hot water in a bowl, it was such a difference in fluffiness. I liked it a lot more than usual. Plus, its more neutral flavor compliments well with the strong spices used on the chicken and there’s a decent amount of veggies to also make it a very tasty and balanced meal. This was pretty much our experiment new flavor of the box and it turned delicious.

Peanut Butter Dumplings
with Sesame Green Beans

Our repeat menu of the box! Actually its the third time, that I’ve gotten this recipe. It shows how much we love it. Especially since I’ve been having massive dumpling cravings of late. This was the first time my husband had to help out with this one. It turned out every bit as good as I remember it. I imagine you will see this one again whenever it pops up as a choice. Right now, its just waiting for that veggie banh mi that we love so much to come back.

Pork Katsu
with Sticky Rice, Yu Choy & Wafu Sauce

The final meal of the box is Pork Katsu. I’m kept think that we had done this recipe before but I think its because I had almost gotten it once before but change it last minute. Either way, props to the husband for stepping up and getting the pork katsu done on point. Its pretty much the replica of the recipe card except without the sauce, because I just keep forgetting to put it. Its a Wafu sauce that goes on top and it would work great with it. Calrose rice is what’s here so it has that sticky rice texture. We like yu choy quite a bit and the pork katsu turned out pretty good. Its a nice contrast to the heavy flavors in the rest of the box, particularly the Berbere chicken earlier so this ended off the week with something a little more subtle in taste was nice. As good as this was, I might not exactly choose it again unless for a filler when something else I have comes up and its a choice.

Overall, no doubt that the peanut butter dumplings were my faves. But I think the surprisingly good discovery was the Berbere Chicken which was delicious. However, on an everyday cooking idea recipe, the tagliatelle is definitely in for an easy pasta night idea except with something other pasta.

Recap: Goodfood #21

Welcome to the next Goodfood recap. Its a rare occurrance that we don’t spread out our orders more but this menu, despite some repeats had some of our fave things and other recipes that I was interested in learning as well.

Lets check it out!

Fennel Crusted Salmon Bucatini with Baby Spinach

I can’t say that I’m a pasta expert so I don’t really know the difference other than the fact that it looks like thicker spaghetti. However, we don’t eat fish a lot so we chose this one. This meal was both easy to do and pretty delicious. Fennel powder is less overpowering than actual fennel so the crust around the salmon worked well with the bucatini.

Vietnamese “Com-Bo” with Cucumber, Carrots & Thai Basil

I can’t say I’m a particular expert at Vietnamese food either so I never knew about what Com-Bo was before this. I’ve had the Banh Mi and the Rice Vermicelli and the Pho but no idea what this is but I can tell you that its super tasty if this is any true reflection of it. However, you will notice that cucumbers are non-existent here. They were forgotten from my meal kit. However, when I contacted customer service about it, they were very quick to resolve the problem and reimbursed the price of a meal. I was very pleased with the service. Back to the meal itself, it was a really nice simple one. It was quick to make, except the chopping the carrots part. If I had to prepare the cucumbers too, then it would definitely have gone over the time they had asked for. However, the rice worked with the sauce and crisp-tender carrots added a nice contrast to the beef strips. It just came together really nicely.  This is so simple that I actually would cook this on a regular basis.

Pork Burgers with Sauteed Mushrooms, Swiss Cheese and Chive Mayo

As usual, burgers are my husband’s tasks. Its nice since I got to keep going with some of the garden work while he put this together. We weren’t quite sure whether we had it before but I’m fairly positive that we’ve talked about it before. Still, chive mayo is yummy. The pork burger spices are delicious. Its an awesome summer meal. I’d absolutely use pork patties more.

Peanut Butter Dumplings with Sesame Green Beans

Our vegetarian meal of the box and also one of my fave meals that we’ve had before are these peanut butter dumplings. They are absolutely fantastic. Its not too hard to make and the sauce is so delicious. Last time, I talked about us ending up just pan frying it on all sides or asking my husband to at least. However, this time, I followed the instructions and cooked it the way it was supposed to be cooked to see the difference and honestly, I have to say that we’re a little split. My husband liked it both ways but enjoyed the pan fried on all sides and I also liked both but thought this version  was a little better. I’ve been having a massive dumplings craving so I’m just happy these were part of this box. 🙂

Overall, a very awesome box! All the recipes delivered in my opinion.
The peanut butter dumplings are repeats before they are my fave, as well as the pork burgers.
For the new ones, I do prefer the Com-bo more than pasta, but I’ve also liked Asian food over Italian food.

Recap: Goodfood #9

Goodfood is a nice routine for us now. Its actually motivating us to cook more regularly even when we don’t order the box. I do have to say that I’m feeling like our lifestyle is becoming more balanced and healthier.

Last week’s box was a bit of some more experimental choices for us however that is also the charm of this experience.

Squid Ink Pasta Puttanesca with Haddock

Squid Ink Pasta Puttanesca with Haddock

I’ve only had squid ink pasta once before in Hong Kong surprisingly. However, I do like it and this dish is pretty good. Its fairly simple to make plus haddock is one of those fishes that we like to eat but never make enough of since salmon turns out to be our default fish to buy and cook. This is a simple dish and I think perhaps one of the few meals in these boxes that I made very easily and almost on par with the time they said would take on the recipe card.

Fajita Bowl with Refried Beans & Fresh Tomato Salsa

Fajita Bowl

The husband chose this one. Suffice to say that its not my favorite meal by far. It was somewhat of a pain to make as it took a lot of coordinating multiple tasks at the same time. Its not complicated though and the chicken tastes delightful. It does pack a little heat in the spices for both the chicken and the peppers. However, the refried beans did turn out tasting better than I had expected them to which is always a plus.

Black Garlic Ramen with Shiitake Mushrooms & Bok Choy

Black Garlic Ramen

The vegetarian meal of the box is the black garlic ramen. Black garlic is also the highlight ingredient that was highlighted for this box. While I didn’t read a lot into it since its been busy, at first glance, it feels like a soy sauce infused garlic. However, I love to choose the oriental noodle meals here because I’m Chinese and it saves me from having to go to the Chinese supermarket which is almost always full of people whenever I have time to go. Back to the meal, simple to make and put together and packs a lot of lovely flavors and tastes so very good.

Provolone-Stuffed Burgers with Rosemary Oven Fries & Aioli

I know that this was a provolone stuffed burger but I let my husband decide on it and for the fact that I can’t have the stuffed cheese, he just made the patties and added the cheese on top. The aioli sauce is pretty good. I would have liked to know how much lemon juice instead of saying the remainder quarter as all lemons will have different amounts so ours turned out quite sour. The balance was lost although it was easy to  see that if there was less lemon juice, it would have been great. The fries also were really good. I never thought of crisping garlic and rosemary as a topping so it was fun to learn that. My husband is the burger connoisseur and he loved this one a lot.

That’s it for last week’s Goodfood box!
A lot of hidden gems here. Some delivered better than others but overall, efficient and tasty meals.

Dinner: One Pot Chicken and Sausage Pasta

Efficient meal solutions are my favorite thing to look up. The one that has caught my eye recently are all those one pot meal recipes. Its always felt very weird even if the idea does work. The coincidence of the situation was that we had sausage and chicken that needed to be cooked and a crazy amount of pasta so I decided to find a Pinterest recipe which didn’t actually happen that matched with I wanted but found a similar one so used it as a guideline.

One Pot Chicken and Sausage Pasta

This is the recipe that I used as a guideline to see how it all worked: http://www.number-2-pencil.com/2015/10/15/one-pot-cajun-chicken-and-sausage-alfredo/

Ingredients

4 cloves garlic, minced
4 chicken drumsticks, skin removed and meat separated from bone
4 honey-garlic sausages, cut in pieces
1 zucchini, chopped
dried pasta
chicken broth
salt & pepper
olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in a large cooking pot over medium heat.
2. Add chicken, both the bite size pieces and the bones to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken.
3. Add in the sausages to the pot and cover the pot so it can cook through.
4. Add in the garlic and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add in chicken broth and dried pasta. The broth has to cover the meat and pasta. Add water if not enough broth.
6. Stir the ingredients together and bring to a simmer.
7. When it simmers, lower the heat. Cover and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
8. Make sure pasta is cooked. Remove the pot from heat.

The one pot experiment was pretty successful. What makes things that simmer or bake in the oven really great is that you can set a timer and walk away to do something else. In terms of cooking, it still takes the same amount of time if you did it all separately, except here the bulk of time is on preparation and it frees up a little more time as everything cooks are about the same time. I would love to try this with some variety.

Have you tried doing one pot recipes?

Hong Kong Restaurants: The Spaghetti House

When I’m Hong Kong, I usually eat mostly Chinese food.  It makes up for the crappiness of it right here in Montreal.

However, there are always exceptions and the first Saturday I was there, I was with my mom, her best friend and my aunt and we had to wait for a table at New Town Plaza.  It was between two restaurants right from each other.  Obviously, The Spaghetti House ended up giving us a table first so we went in and at down.

The Spaghetti House is a chain of restaurants specialized in mostly pasta.  I’m sure you guessed that one on your own 😉 The menu doesn’t only have pasta. It has rice, soups, salads and pizza.  I’ve always been curious how it was to go here.

Whats nice about The Spaghetti House (and some selected restaurant) is that if you hold a certain bank credit card, there are some priorities to it. In this one, it was the Standard Chartered Bank which opened up another special set dinner menu for a pretty decent price and some dishes not on the actual menu. My aunt had that specific card so she took a set dinner for two and my mom shared it with her.

Their meal included a soup, an appetizer, a set meal and a meal to choose from a specified list.

Lobster Bisque

Apparently, I heard that The Spaghetti House is supposed to be known for their Lobster Bisque.  Except, I have this vague memory that my mom said that it was a bit on the salty side.

Eggplant Rolls with Scottish Smoked Salmon and Crab Roe (Sesame Dressing)

I actually found this be an original idea.  I never thought of using eggplant as a roll.  Definitely something I would try to make.  My aunt and my mom both enjoyed this one.

Baked Boston Lobster Thermidor in Crab Roe & Black Truffle Sauce with Handmade Fettuccine

This dish looks so beautiful.  Maybe its because I love lobster.  I couldn’t taste this because it had this creamy sauce on top of it. No one had any complaints about this one either 🙂

Fried Rice with Scottish Smoked Salmon and Scallops

My mom especially complimented on her choice of having rice here.  I had a taste of this and it was very good.  Plus, they were generous with the seafood which always is a good.

Moving right along to my mom’s best friend who chose this:

Squid Ink Rice with Grilled Chicken Steak in Fresh Tomato Puree

I’ve always been curious on what Squid Ink rice or pasta tastes like.  Apparently its rather good.  I didn’t get a chance to try this out.  However, she really liked it and said its a nice change. Maybe next time 😉

Finally, we come to my meal.  Up to now, all you’ve read is that I didn’t try a lot of these foods for whatever reasons.  The truth was that I had gone through a slight stomach problem after a week of eating crazily that never really revived so I wasn’t going to be too adventurous.  You will see that for the next few days, things will be tamer in the eating out department. However, it does get back to some form of normality so I still try to enjoy myself as much as I can 🙂 With that in mind, I was careful and chose a “go green” meal with angel hair and vegetables.

Angel Hair with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Mushrooms

I’m a huge fan of Angel hair pasta and it seems incredibly hard to find at supermarkets somehow.  Its easier to digest and has a nice texture.  This one was very nice.  It was a bit oily but the balance of vegetables, both tomatoes and mushrooms were pretty good. It wasn’t too bland and had a good balance of taste.  I’d definitely say its a winner 🙂

Maybe it sounds weird to be eating Italian food in Hong Kong but a little change is always welcome to keep those taste buds alive.  The Spaghetti House may be a chain but it has a lovely menu.  I almost couldn’t make my choice. We all enjoyed what we had ordered and for my mom and aunt, they almost couldn’t finish their own meal.  There was also dessert included in theirs but I forgot to take a picture.

Are you fan of Italian cuisine? What sort of pasta do you like? Are you a seafood fan? 

Healthier Pasta Bolognese

Sunday’s are my fixed cooking days! Plus, my boyfriend has an 12 hour extended shift at work so he came home extremely tired.  I had to take care of it all alone.  Its been a while that I didn’t have help in the kitchen and had to multitask between various tasks to get dinner together in an hour time frame or so.  He requested pasta so I went in my inventory of recipes (I’m starting to do that now) and searched up this recipe from The Scrumptious Pumpkin. She has some pretty awesome recipes.  So far, I’ve only tried one other pasta recipe that she had a few months ago and it was super successful, so I went ahead to gather up the ingredients for this and get cooking!

My Healthier Pasta Bolognese looked like this:

Healthier Pasta Bolognese

The Scrumptious Pumpkin’s recipe for this is HERE!

I did make a few changes.  For one, I took her suggestion to replace Tagliatelle with Fettuccine.  I used the Smart ones which is white with whole wheat fibre. I’ve never used those before but they were on special so I thought it might be interesting to try it and get into healthier eating habits 🙂 Baby steps to changing eating habits, right? I also removed the mushrooms as I don’t digest them well and my boyfriend doesn’t like them.  I omitted dried oregano as I didn’t have it readily available. Thats about it! Everything else I kept the same and followed through with the original recipe!

This was a very good recipe! For one, it was quick.  I may have seemed like I was juggling between pot, skillet and chopping board but it was really easy to make.  It took about 30 minutes as she says.  Second of all and most important, my boyfriend loved it.  The sauce was tasty and flavorful.  Everything felt healthy and delicious (which usually don’t go together);)

I’m definitely going back to this one next time I want pasta.  Its delicious, healthy and quick..what more can you ask for in a dinner solution?

If you are looking for healthy solutions, I suggest you to drop by The Scrumptious Pumpkin.  She has a lot of great recipes to offer over there 🙂

Just curious, is there a specific type of pasta that you like? Spaghettini/Fettuccine/Linguine/Farfalle, etc?

2 in 1 Food Review: Mazter Japanese Restaurant & Fine Pasta Restaurant

FOOD REVIEW#1: MAZTER JAPANESE RESTAURANT

After a whole 8 hours of not eating at the wonderful celebration, we had to go for some food.  The special bus took us to MTR Hang Hau.  Right next to this, there was a complex called The Lane and the kids chose a Japanese restaurant called Mazter.

Here’s a link for you to look at: http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=49850

I’m usually not a big fan of Japanese food but this one was decent.

 

This one was my mom’s.  It was seafood Japanese noodles.  This one was pretty delicious.

 

My mom’s best friend chose the kid’s meal. It was cute put in a little kid tray with little sushi and eggs, some meat and some noodles.

They even added a Yakult on the side.

This is my meal: Fried Pork Cutlet with scrambled eggs on rice.  I have to say, they should have called it with onions.

I spent half my time eating onions instead of the actual scrambled eggs. That actually decreased my liking of the meal.

FOOD REVIEW #2: FINE PASTA RESTAURANT

I met up with a high school friend on Monday night in Mongkok and she took me to this pasta place. Usually I don’t eat pasta at restaurant, even back in Montreal but I made an exception because after so many days of the same foods, I needed a little break to try something new for Hong Kong. So pasta it was, and here it is: Fine Pasta Restaurant.

This restaurant is situated on the side store along Ladies Market.

This was what I had: A delicious seafood spaghetti (?). I don’t remember the pasta. I looks like spaghetti to me.

There you go.  My food reviews for today.  Mazter was okay, nothing crazy recommendable especially because it was slightly pricey.  If you are looking for a good pasta place or even steak.  Reading some of the reviews while researching it, it seems to be an Italian Steakhouse. So I’d assume that should be a good choice.  I would recommend it.  It was a very tasty meal.

We can’t leave 2 food reviews without giving you a little bit of sweets, right?

So the next day, I went to Ocean Park.  I showed a bit of it before on A Word A Week Challenge: Journey and Special Photo Challenge: Inspiration. I”ll be taking you there in my next entry later today! For now, I will give you the dessert of the day: Dragon Beard Candy.

It was six pieces before I took the picture. Haha!

Still, here it is. All I can tell you is it has peanut filling.  I’m not exactly sure what is the outside but its sugary.

Yummy stuff right here!

Have you ever tried it any of this before? Why type of foods are your favorites? How about your favorite dessert? Pasta? Japanese food?